Pharmacy School Essay

Ever since my childhood days, helping other people with the best possible way I could is really within my interest. Hence, extending my effort to the most effectual manner in helping the people is something that I really enjoy to do. In light of this, I have decided and chosen to pursue a career that is involved in assisting and supporting the people or the public. Since then I always wanted to establish a steady job in the health profession, specifically in the field of pharmacy, and eventually render my service in helping other with their pharmaceutical requirements. In a sense, my interest in pharmacy has further developed when one of my closest auntie has acquired hypothyroidism and is subjected to perform daily thyroid medication to be able to sustain her health. Since then, the question of how such specific medicine could work in the human body to cure the diseases and other health problems has guided and led me to find out more about pharmacy. Likewise, the desire of understanding as to how drugs or medicines affect the human body and further understand the importance of drugs in peoples lives have boost my interest in this field. In addition to this, my enthusiasm in pharmacy is already evident during my younger days as I have a broad interest in science, As such, I also enjoy studying Mathematics. In lieu of this, such personal characteristics together with my acquisition of major in biology, these would serve as my primary tool to survive in pharmacy school. As one of the aspiring pharmacists in the country, my personal and career goal is to be in line with the top-rated practitioners in clinical pharmacy. This is in pursuit of my fervent goal and dream to serve the public, most specially those who are sick and in need of appropriate pharmaceutical assistance. In this regard, I am very well aware that pharmaceutical work in the hospital is never easy at all. Thus, this require a higher demand of dedication and enthusiasm to be able to meet the satisfaction of the people and serve accordingly. Nonetheless, I wanted to pursue a career in clinical pharmacy due to the notion and belief that it would be more effective for me to achieve my goals in this profession by rendering patient care that optimizes medication therapy and promotes health, wellness, and disease prevention. Moreover, I would say that I entail positive potentials to become one of the better clinical pharmacist basing on my moral values and love for this job. As such, as a clinical pharmacist hopeful I hold on to my personal oath in providing quality services for those people who require pharmaceutical aid. In addition to this, I am well guided by my mission and desire to render the best possible service I could for the patients and for this profession. Hence, I would kindly appeal to the Admissions Committee to recommend me as one of the deserving student in formal Pharmacy schooling program by means referencing in my dedication and passion in pursuing a career in clinical pharmacy. In light this, supporting the public and the patients with their pharmaceutical requisites in the most accommodating and effective manner is my own profound sources of motivation to do good and perform in the best positive way as clinical pharmacist in the future. Certainly, witnessing people or patients recovering from their physical ailment serves as the primary source of inspiration for me to excel and become one of the reliable practitioner in this line of work. On the other hand, my academic difficulties in college is as well worth to be mentioned as it taught me valuable knowledge and experiences that could possibly help me pursue a career in pharmacy. For my first two years in college, I worked full time to help support my family. With this, my performance in class and grades have suffered. Years after, I finally took a time off to school and help to support my family needs. I grow up in a family where my dad has disabled himself and could no longer work to support us. With this, my mother had to raise me together with my brothers. I saw my mother as she struggles to work for us and at the same time pursue her dream of becoming a nurse. At about five years after, she finally became a nurse and this is exactly the right time I went back to school to focus on my studies. In the end, with this specific happenings in my life, my family, and with my studies, I would say that these had made me more stronger and inspired to reach my dreams as well as to my best to be able to achieve my career goal. Hence, to be able to do this, I accept the fact that I have to undergo a formal doctoral pharmacy program. Certainly, I truly believe that through this formal studies in pharmacy school, I would be able to acquire essential knowledge that could support me in improving and developing positive traits in becoming an outstanding pharmacist. With this regard, I hereby submit myself to undergo the needed formal pharmacy program as I pursue my career and personal goal.

Inclusive teaching and learning approaches Essay

The aim of this assignment is to gain an understanding into inclusive teaching and learning approaches as well be able to use them in my teaching. It will also explore how I can create a learning environment that engages and motivates students and my planning, delivery and evaluation of my teaching. The Warnock Report 1978 introduced the idea of Special Educational Needs and encouraged the thought process of statements and an inclusive education by suggesting that common educational goals were set regardless of the learner’s abilities or disabilities (Education and Skills Committee 2006). This is is further supported by Hodkinson and Vickerman (2009) who state that educational need should be considered the priority and not an individual learning disability. Therefore, inclusive teaching is about allowing any student the ability to achieve their full potential through education and training, by treating students equally and without discrimination this will make for a conducive learning environment. As an inclusive teacher this will necessitate the teacher to ensure that all students’ are treated differently in order to maximise the individuals learning potential and identify any students learning needs or indeed barriers that may arise to progressing their learning. By undertaking these steps to ensure early identification on learning needs and barriers, strategies can be put in place to minimise negative impacts of these barriers and ensure an equal and inclusive learning environment. Within my role, over the last 15 years, as a coastguard rescue officer part of my inherited role is to support, train, assess and feedback to managers on newer team members competency as well as support senior officers with delivering training packages to team members throughout Cornwall. This is a new development and is a big strength to the development of teams and competencies levels. These training packages have been developed from a foundation through to the higher technician competencies and have proven a great success. Upon completion of the foundation training coastguard officers will then undertake a number of further competency courses which include the rope rescue operator course. This has both inherent strength and weaknesses to the course, one of which is that the learners on the course  are from a multitude of teams from across Cornwall and this can prove challenging at times, however, the strength of doing this in this manner is that we can also share knowledge and ‘best practise’ across the county. The limitation of just having one level of competency attending the course does not allow for ‘real’ opportunity for learning due to policies created that only technicians are able to go over a cliff. This in turn limits the real life ability to put it in to practise. The course has been developed and this policy overcome by the opportunity to allow technicians to attend and again share knowledge, experience and best practise. Within any education and training, environment is key in ensuring that the opportunity for learners to develop and reaffirm their knowledge of key functional skills in English, Mathematics and ICT as well as wider skills is possible. These skills can be developed naturally through your subject matter and will often create a positive learning environment the more naturally they occur. When undertaking these skills in your learning environment the tasks need to be relevant and engaging with real time/life situations to ensure maximum opportunity for learning. Within my learning environment there are many opportunities for these skills to be developed and affirmed. When undertaking training with the coastguard and teaching and sharing knowledge there are many opportunities for the use of technologies in the form of technical equipment used for the lowering and hauling of team members and causalities, as well as a need for clear communication skills between team members from the person over the cliff to the cliff top and officer in charge, who all require a clear, concise and informed briefing and ongoing updates throughout the training evolution. Further to this is the need to understand the breaking strains and tensions on the equipment and ability to calculate the potential stretch in a rope over a distance are just some examples of embedded functional skills within my teaching and learning environment. An inclusive teaching and learning environment needs to allow learners’ to feel comfortable, relaxed and feel safe to allow them to maximise the opportunity to learn and achieve their full learning potential. When undertaking education and training the approach, resources and assessment methods used as a teacher are key to ensure that the learner is enjoying the learning environment. Ensure you are able to connect to the individual learner using their name, speak directly to them and not about  them, ensure their voice is heard when undertaking feedback or tutorials and that any individual’s needs are catered for. This is particularly important in ensuring and understanding the needs of learners with dyslexia. Garner (2008) states that where a child is referred to as having dyslexia, they may experience considerable difficulty in reading, writing and spelling but this is not necessarily a reflection on their intellectual capabilities. Therefore it is important to ensure that their needs are catered for adequately to allow them full access to the learning. For example, ensuring handouts are available on coloured paper can help to allow one of the barriers of dyslexia to be overcom e. Ensure resources for the training are current and relevant, if you are undertaking worksheets or workbooks ensure that there is opportunity to allow staged tasks for different levels of learning or learners’ who may suffer from autism. Clear goal setting and ensuring that goals are achievable before the need to move to another task, where practical, reduces the impact on the learner and allows the opportunity for ‘extension’ activities. When undertaking any education or training opportunity motivation and keenness to engage with the training is of vital importance as the more the engagement and student led learning the less work as a teacher you may have to do. Ensure a knowledge of what motivates your learners’ and if they are attending the training because ‘they have too’ or to develop themselves will give you an insight into an individual’s motivation. There are many ways to motivate individuals’ to engage in the training from ensuring an overarching positive learning environment to interesting creative tasks ensuring a variety of learning styles and strategies are employed. When undertaken training of a new cohort of learners’ the way in which the ground rules of the session, course or environment are set are fundamental to the success of ensuring maximum engagement and potential achievement, as well as to ensure a safe working environment. There are many ways to establish ground rules from a teacher led process where they dictate rules to the group and is very much a â€Å"You must not†¦.† And â€Å"Don’t do†¦.†, for a more constructive and joined up approach a negotiation style approach could be considered to ensure investment from learners’ and signed agreement could allow for a greater commitment from them. There will more often than not be imposed rules either as part of health and safety responsibility or due to policies and procedures that are  able to be avoided but these can be discussed and ensure a clear consistent understanding of these and reasoning could aid in the collaborative approach to the learning environment. References: Education and Skills Committee (2006) Special Educational Needs Third Report of session 2005-2006. [Online] HC 478-II. London, the Stationary Office. Available from: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmeduski/478/478ii.pdf [Accessed 20th April 2015]. Garner, P. (2008) Special Educational Needs: The Key Concepts. London, Routledge. Hodkinson, A. and Vickerman, P. (2009) Key Issues in Special Educational Needs and Inclusion. London, SAGE Publications Ltd.

A Dirty Job Chapter 25

25 THE RHYTHM OF LOST AND FOUND The Emperor was camped in some bushes near an open culvert that drained into Lobos Creek in the Presidio, the land point on the San Francisco side of the Golden Gate where forts had stood from the time of the Spanish, but had recently been turned into a park. The Emperor had wandered the city for days, calling into storm drains, following the sound of his lost soldier's barking. The faithful retriever Lazarus had led him here, one of the few drains in the city where the Boston terrier might be able to exit without being washed into the Bay. They camped under a camouflage poncho and waited. Mercifully, it hadn't rained since Bummer had chased the squirrel into the storm sewer, but dark clouds had been bubbling over the City for two days now, and whether or not they were bringing rain, they made the Emperor fear for his city. â€Å"Ah, Lazarus,† said the Emperor, scratching his charge behind the ears, â€Å"if we had even half the courage of our small comrade, we would go into that drain and find him. But what are we without him, our courage, our valor? Steady and righteous we may be, my friend, but without courage to risk ourselves for our brother, we are but politicians – blustering whores to rhetoric.† Lazarus growled low and hunkered back under the poncho. The sun had just set, but the Emperor could see movement back in the culvert. As he climbed to his feet, the six-foot pipe was filled with a creature that crawled out and virtually unfolded in the creekbed – a huge, bullheaded thing, with eyes that glowed green and wings that unfurled like leathery umbrellas. As they watched the creature took three steps and leapt into the twilight sky, his wings beating like the sails of a death ship. The Emperor shuddered, and considered for a moment moving their camp into the City proper, perhaps passing the night on Market Street, with people and policemen streaming by, but then he heard the faintest barking coming from deep in the culvert. Audrey was showing them around the Buddhist center, which, except for the office in the front, and a living room that had been turned into a meditation room, looked very much like any other sprawling Victorian home. Austere and Oriental in its decor, yes, and perhaps the smell of incense permeating it, but still, just a big old house. â€Å"It's just a big old house, really,† she said, leading them into the kitchen. Minty Fresh was making Audrey feel a little uncomfortable. He kept picking at bits of duct-tape adhesive that had stuck to the sleeve of his green jacket, and giving Audrey a look like he was saying, This better come out when it's dry-cleaned or it's your ass. His size alone was intimidating, but now a series of large knots were rising on his forehead where he'd smacked the doorway, and he looked vaguely like a Klingon warrior, except for the pastel-green suit, of course. Maybe the agent for a Klingon warrior. â€Å"So,† he said, â€Å"if the squirrel people thought I was a bad guy, why did they save me from the sewer harpy in the train last week? They attacked her and gave me time to get away.† Audrey shrugged. â€Å"I don't know. They were supposed to just watch you and report back. They must have seen that what was after you was much worse than you. They are human, at heart, you know.† She paused in front of the pantry door and turned to them. She hadn't seen the debacle in the street, but Esther had been watching through the window and had told her what had happened – about the womanlike creatures that had been coming after Charlie. Evidently these strange men were allies of a sort, practicing what she had taken on as her holy work: helping souls to move to their next existence. But the method? Could she trust them? â€Å"So, from what you guys are saying, there are thousands of humans walking around without souls?† â€Å"Millions, probably,† Charlie said. â€Å"Maybe that explains the last election,† she said, trying to buy time. â€Å"You said you could see if people had one,† said Minty Fresh. He was right, but she'd seen the soulless and never thought about their sheer numbers, and what happened when the dead didn't match with the born. She shook her head. â€Å"So the transfer of souls depends on material acquisition? That's just so – I don't know – sleazy.† â€Å"Audrey, believe me,† Charlie said, â€Å"we're both as baffled by the mechanics of it as you are, and we're instruments of it.† She looked at Charlie, really looked at him. He was telling the truth. He had come here to do the right thing. She threw open the pantry door and the red light spilled out on them. The pantry was nearly as big as a modern bedroom, and every shelf from floor to ceiling and most of the floor space was covered with glowing soul vessels. â€Å"Jeez,† Charlie said. â€Å"I got as many as I could – or, the squirrel people did.† Minty Fresh ducked into the pantry and stood in front of a shelf full of CDs and records. He grabbed a handful and started shuffling through them, then turned to her, holding up a half-dozen CD cases fanned out. â€Å"These are from my store.† â€Å"Yes. We got all of them,† Audrey said. â€Å"You broke into my store.† â€Å"She kept them from the bad guys, Minty,† Charlie said, stepping in the pantry. â€Å"She probably saved them, maybe saved us.† â€Å"No way, man, none of this would be happening if it wasn't for her.† â€Å"No, it was always going to happen. I saw it in the other Great Big Book, in Arizona.† â€Å"I was just trying to help them,† Audrey said. Charlie was staring at the CDs in Minty's hand. He seemed to have fallen into some sort of trance, and reached out and took the CDs as if he were moving through some thick liquid – then shuffled away all but one, which he just stared at, then flipped over to look at the back. He sat down hard in the pantry and Audrey caught his head to keep him from bumping it on the shelf behind him. â€Å"Charlie,† she said. â€Å"Are you okay?† Minty Fresh squatted down next to Charlie and looked at the CD – reached for it, but Charlie pulled it away. Minty looked at Audrey. â€Å"It's his wife,† he said. Audrey could see the name Rachel Asher scratched into the back of the CD case and she felt her heart breaking for poor Charlie. She put her arms around him. â€Å"I'm so sorry, Charlie. I'm so sorry.† Tears splattered on the CD case and Charlie wouldn't look up. Minty Fresh stood and cleared his throat, his face clear of any rage or accusation. He seemed almost ashamed. â€Å"Audrey, I've been driving around the City for days, I could sure use a place to lie down if you have it.† She nodded, her face against Charlie's back. â€Å"Ask Esther, she'll show you.† Minty Fresh ducked out of the pantry. Audrey held Charlie and rocked him for a long time, and even though he was lost in the world of that CD that held the love of his life, and she was outside, crouched in a pantry that glowed red with cosmic bric-a-brac, she cried with him. After an hour passed, or maybe it was three, because that's the way time is in grief and love, Charlie turned to her and said, â€Å"Do I have a soul?† â€Å"What?† she said. â€Å"You said you could see people's souls glowing in them – do I have a soul?† â€Å"Yes, Charlie. Yes, you have a soul.† He nodded, turning away from her again, but pushing back against her. â€Å"You want it?† he said. â€Å"Nah, I'm good,† she said. But she wasn't. She took the CD out of his hand, pried his hands off of it, really, and put it with the others. â€Å"Let's let Rachel rest and go in the other room.† â€Å"Okay,† Charlie said. He let her help him up. Upstairs, in a little room with cushions all over the floor and pictures of the Buddha reclining amid lotuses, they sat and talked by candlelight. They'd shared their histories, of how they had come to be where they were, what they were, and with that out of the way, they talked about their losses. â€Å"I've seen it again and again,† Charlie said. â€Å"More with men than with women, but definitely with both – a wife or husband dies, and it's like the survivor is roped to him like a mountain climber who's fallen into a crevasse. If the survivor can't let go – cut them loose, I guess – the dead will drag them right into the grave. I think that would have happened to me, if it wasn't for Sophie, and maybe even becoming a Death Merchant. There was something bigger than me going on, something bigger than my pain. That's the only reason I made it this far.† â€Å"Faith,† Audrey said. â€Å"Whatever that is. It's funny, when Esther came to me, she was angry. Dying and angry – she said that she'd believed in Jesus all her life, now she was dying and He said she was going to live forever.† â€Å"So you told her, ‘Sucks to be you, Esther.'† Audrey threw a cushion at him. She liked the way that he could find the silliness in such dark territory. â€Å"No, I told her that He told her that she'd live forever, but He didn't say how. Her faith hadn't been betrayed at all, she just needed to open to a broader understanding.† â€Å"Which was total bullshit,† Charlie said. Another cushion bounced off his forehead. â€Å"No, it wasn't moo-poo. If anyone should understand the significance of the book not covering everything in detail, it should be you – us.† â€Å"You can't say ‘bullshit,' can you?† Audrey felt herself blush and was glad they were in the dim orange candlelight. â€Å"I'm talking faith, over here, you want to give me a break?† â€Å"Sorry. I know – or, I think I know what you mean. I mean, I know that there's some sort of order to all this, but I don't know how someone can reconcile, say, a Catholic upbringing with a Tibetan Book of the Dead, with a Great Big Book of Death, secondhand dealers selling objects with human souls, and vicious raven women in the sewers. The more I know, the less I understand. I'm just doing.† â€Å"Well, the Bardo Thodrol talks about hundreds of monsters you will encounter as your consciousness makes its journey into death and rebirth, but you're instructed to ignore them, as they are illusions, your own fears trying to keep your consciousness from moving on. They can't really harm you.† â€Å"I think this may be something they left out of the book, Audrey, because I've seen them, I've fought with them, wrenched souls out of their grasp, watched them take bullets and get hit by cars and keep going – they are definitely not illusions and they definitely can hurt you. The Great Big Book isn't clear about the specifics, but it definitely talks about the Forces of Darkness trying to take over our world, and how the Luminatus will rise and do battle with them.† â€Å"Luminatus?† Audrey said. â€Å"Something to do with light?† â€Å"The big Death,† Charlie said. â€Å"Death with a capital D. Sort of the Kahuna, the Big Cheese, the Boss Death. Like Minty and the other Death Merchants would be Santa's helpers, the Luminatus would be Santa.† â€Å"Santa Claus is the big Death?!† Audrey said, wide-eyed. â€Å"No, that's just an example – † Charlie saw she was trying not to laugh. â€Å"Hey, I've been bruised and electrocuted and tied up and traumatized tonight.† â€Å"So my seduction strategy is working?† Audrey grinned. Charlie was flustered. â€Å"I didn't – I wasn't – was I staring at your breasts? Because if I was, it was totally by accident, because, you know – there they were, and – â€Å" â€Å"Shh.† She reached over and put her finger on his lips to shush him. â€Å"Charlie, I feel very close to you right now, and very connected to you right now, and I want to keep that connection going, but I'm exhausted, and I don't think I can talk anymore. I think I'd like you to come to bed with me.† â€Å"Really? Are you sure?† â€Å"Am I sure? I haven't had sex in fourteen years – and if you'd asked me yesterday, I'd have told you that I'd rather face one of your raven monsters than go to bed with a man, but now I'm here, with you, and I'm as sure as I've ever been of anything.† She smiled, then looked away. â€Å"I mean, if you are.† Charlie took her hand. â€Å"Yeah,† he said. â€Å"But I was going to tell you something important.† â€Å"Can't it wait till morning?† â€Å"Sure.† They spent the night in each other's arms, and whatever fears or insecurities they had been feeling turned out to be illusions. Loneliness evaporated off of them like the steam off dry ice, and by morning it was just a cloud on the ceiling of the room, then gone with the light. During the night someone had picked up the dining-room table and cleaned up the mess Minty Fresh had made when he crashed through the kitchen door. He was sitting at the table when Charlie came down. â€Å"They towed my car,† said Minty Fresh. â€Å"There's coffee.† â€Å"Thanks.† Charlie skipped across the dining room to the kitchen. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down with Minty. â€Å"How's your head?† The big man touched the purple bruise on his forehead. â€Å"Better. How're you doing?† â€Å"I accidentally shagged a monk last night.† â€Å"Sometimes, in times of crisis, that shit cannot be avoided. How are you doing besides that?† â€Å"I feel wonderful.† â€Å"Yeah, imagine the rest of us all bummed about the end of the world, not being cheerful.† â€Å"Not the end of the world, just darkness over everything,† Charlie cheerfully said. â€Å"It gets dark – turn on a light.† â€Å"Good for you, Charlie. Now ‘scuse me, I got to go get my car out of impound before you start with the whole ‘if life gives you lemons you make lemonade' speech and I have to beat you senseless.† (It's true, there is little more obnoxious than a Beta Male in love. So conditioned is he to the idea that he will never find love, that when he does, he feels as if the entire world has fallen into step with his desires – and thus deluded, he may act accordingly. It's a time of great joy and danger for him.) â€Å"Wait, we can share a cab. I have to go home and get my date book.† â€Å"Me, too. I left mine on the front seat of the car. You know those two clients I missed – they're here. Alive.† â€Å"Audrey told me,† Charlie said. â€Å"There's six of them altogether. She did that p'howa of undying thing on them. Obviously that's what's been causing the cosmic shit storm, but what can we do? We can't kill them.† â€Å"No, I think it's what you said. The battle is going to happen here in San Francisco and it's going to happen now. And since you're the Luminatus, I guess this whole thing is riding on your shoulders. So I'd say we're doomed.† â€Å"Maybe not. I mean, every time they've almost gotten me, something or someone has intervened to pull out a victory. I think destiny is on our side. I feel very optimistic about this.† â€Å"That's just because you just shagged the monk,† said Minty. â€Å"I'm not a monk,† said Audrey, bounding into the room with a sheaf of papers in hand. â€Å"Oh, shit,† said the Death Merchants in unison. â€Å"No, it's okay,† Audrey said. â€Å"He did shag me, or, I think more appropriately – we shagged – but I'm not a monk anymore. Not because of the shagging, you know, it was a preshag decision.† She threw her papers on the table and climbed into Charlie's lap. â€Å"Hey, good-looking, how's your morning going?† She gave him a backbreaking kiss and entwined him like a starfish trying to open an oyster until Minty Fresh cleared his throat and she turned to him. â€Å"And good morning to you, Mr. Fresh.† â€Å"Yes. Thank you.† Minty leaned to the side so he could see Charlie. â€Å"Whether they were here for you, or for our clients who didn't die, they'll be back, you know that?† â€Å"The Morrigan?† said Audrey. â€Å"Huh,† said the Death Merchants, again in chorus. â€Å"You guys are so cute,† Audrey gushed. â€Å"They're called the Morrigan. Raven women – personifications of death in the form of beautiful warrior women who can change into birds. There are three of them, all part of the same collective queen of the Underworld known as the Morrigan.† Charlie leaned back from her so he could look her in the eye. â€Å"How do you know that?† â€Å"I just looked it up on the Internet.† Audrey climbed out of Charlie's lap, picked up the papers on the table, and began to read. â€Å"‘The Morrigan consists of three distinct entities: Macha, who haunts the battlefield, and takes heads of warriors as tribute in battle – she is said to be able to heal a warrior from mortal wounds in the field, if his men have offered enough heads to her. The Celtic warriors called the severed heads Macha's acorns. She is considered the mother goddess of the three. Babd is rage, the passion of battle and killing – she was said to collect the seed of fallen warriors, and use its power to inspire a sexual frenzy for battle, a literal bloodlust. And Nemain, who is frenzy, was said to drive soldiers into battle with a howl so fierce that it could cause enemy soldiers to die of fright – her claws were venomous and the mere prick of one would kill a soldier, but she would fling the venom into the eyes of enemy soldie rs to blind them.'† â€Å"That's them,† said Minty Fresh. â€Å"I saw venom come from the claws of the one on the BART.† â€Å"Yeah,† Charlie said, â€Å"and I think I remember Babd – the bloodlust one. That's them. I have to talk to Lily. I sent her to Berkeley to find out about them, but she came back with nothing. She must have not even looked.† â€Å"Yeah, ask her if she's seeing anybody,† Minty Fresh said. To Audrey: â€Å"Did it say how you kill them? What their weaknesses are?† Audrey shook her head. â€Å"Just that warriors took dogs into battle to protect against the Morrigan.† â€Å"Dogs,† Charlie echoed. â€Å"That explains why my daughter got the hellhounds to protect her. I'm telling you, Fresh, we're going to be okay. Destiny is on our side.† â€Å"Yeah, you said that. Call us a cab.† â€Å"I wonder why of all the different gods and demons in the Underworld, the Celtic ones are here.† â€Å"Maybe they're all here,† Minty said. â€Å"I had a crazy Indian tell me once that I was the son of Anubis, the Egyptian jackal-headed god of the dead.† â€Å"That's great!† Charlie said. â€Å"A jackal – that's a type of dog. You have natural abilities to battle the Morrigan, see.† Minty looked at Audrey. â€Å"If you don't do something to disappoint him and mellow his ass out, I'm going to shoot him.† â€Å"Oh yeah,† Charlie said. â€Å"Can I still borrow one of your big guns?† Minty unfolded to his feet. â€Å"I'm going outside to call a cab and wait, Charlie. If you're coming, you better start saying good-bye now, because I'm leaving when it gets here.† â€Å"Swell,† Charlie said, looking adoringly at Audrey. â€Å"I think we're safe in the daylight anyway.† â€Å"Monk shagger,† Minty growled as he ducked under the doorway. Auntie Cassie let Charlie into their small home in the Marina district and Sophie called off the greeting hump of devil dogs almost as soon as it started. â€Å"Daddy!† Charlie swept Sophie up in his arms and squeezed her until she started to change color; then, when Jane came out of the kitchen, he grabbed her in his other arm and hugged her as well. â€Å"Uh, let go,† Jane said, pushing him away. â€Å"You smell like incense.† â€Å"Oh, Jane, I can't believe it, she's so wonderful.† â€Å"He got laid,† Cassandra said. â€Å"You got laid?† Jane said, kissing her brother on the cheek. â€Å"I'm so happy for you. Now let me go.† â€Å"Daddy got laid,† Sophie said to the hellhounds, who seemed very happy at hearing the news. â€Å"No, not laid,† Charlie said, and there was a collective sigh of disappointment. â€Å"Well, yes, laid,† and there was a collective sigh of relief, â€Å"but that's not the thing. The thing is she's wonderful. She's gorgeous, and kind, and sweet, and – â€Å" â€Å"Charlie,† Jane interrupted, â€Å"you called us and told us that there was some great danger and we had to go get Sophie and protect her, and you were going on a date?† â€Å"No, no, there was – is danger, at least in the dark, and I did need you to get Sophie, but I met someone.† â€Å"Daddy got laid!† Sophie cheered again. â€Å"Honey, we don't say that, okay,† Charlie said. â€Å"Auntie Jane and Auntie Cassie shouldn't say that either. It's not nice.† â€Å"Like ‘kitty' and ‘not in the butt'?† â€Å"Exactly, honey.† â€Å"Okay, Daddy. So it wasn't nice?† â€Å"Daddy has to go to our house and get his date book, pumpkin, we'll talk about this later. Give me a kiss.† Sophie gave him a huge hug and a kiss and Charlie thought that he might cry. For so long she had been his only future, his only joy, and now he had this other joy, and he wanted to share it with her. â€Å"I'll come right back, okay?† â€Å"Okay. Let me down.† Charlie let her slide to the floor and she ran off to another part of the house. â€Å"So it wasn't nice?† Jane asked. â€Å"I'm sorry, Jane. This is really crazy. I hate that I put you guys in the middle of it. I didn't mean to scare you.† Jane thumped him in the arm. â€Å"So it was nice?† â€Å"It was really nice,† Charlie said, breaking into a grin. â€Å"She's really nice. She's so nice I miss Mom.† â€Å"Lost me,† Cassandra said. â€Å"Because I'd like Mom to see that I'm doing okay. That I met someone who's good for me. Who's going to be good for Sophie.† â€Å"Whoa, don't jump the gun, there, tiger,† Jane said. â€Å"You just met this woman, you need to slow down – and remember, this comes from someone whose typical second date is moving a woman in.† â€Å"Slut,† Cassie murmured. â€Å"I mean it, Jane. She's amazing.† Cassie looked at Jane. â€Å"You were right, he really did need to get laid.† â€Å"That's not it!† Charlie's cell rang. â€Å"Excuse me, guys.† He flipped it open. â€Å"Asher, what the hell have you done?† It was Lily. She was crying. â€Å"What the hell have you let loose?† â€Å"What, Lily? What?† â€Å"It was just here. The front window of the shop is gone. Gone! It just came in, ripped through the shop, and took all of your soul thingies. Loaded them into a bag and flew away. Fuck, Asher. I mean FUCK! This thing was huge, and fucking hideous.† â€Å"Yeah, Lily, are you okay? Is Ray okay?† â€Å"Yeah, I'm okay. Ray didn't come in. I ran into the back when it came through the window. It wasn't interested in anything but that shelf. Asher, it was as big as a bull and it fucking flew!† She sounded like she was on the edge of hysteria. â€Å"Hold on, Lily. Stay there and I'll come to you. Go in the back room and don't open the door until you hear me, okay.† â€Å"Asher, what the fuck was that thing?† â€Å"I don't know, Lily.† The bullheaded Death flew into the culvert and immediately fell to all fours to move through the pipe, dragging the bag of souls behind him. Not for much longer – he would not crawl much longer. The time had come, Orcus could feel it. He could feel them converging on the City – the City where he had staked his territory so many years ago – his city. Still, they would come, and they would try to take what was rightfully his. All of the old gods of death: Yama and Anubis and Mors, Thanatos and Charon and Mahakala, Azrael and Emma-O and Ahkoh, Balor, Erebos, and Nyx – dozens of them, gods born of the energy of Man's greatest fear, the fear of death – all of them coming to rise as the leader of darkness and the dead, as the Luminatus. But he had come here first, and with Morrigan, he would become the one. But first he had to marshal his forces, heal the Morrigan, and take down the wretched human soul stealers of the City. The satchel of souls would go a long way toward healing his brides. He marched into the grotto where the great ship was moored and leapt into the air, the beat of his great leathery wings like a war drum, echoing off the grotto walls and sending bats to the wing, swirling around the ship's masts in great clouds. The Morrigan, torn and broken, were waiting for him on the deck. â€Å"What did I tell you?† Babd said. â€Å"It's really not that great Above, huh? I, for one, could do without cars altogether.† Jane drove while Charlie fired out phone calls on his cell, first to Rivera, then to Minty Fresh. Within a half an hour they were all standing in Charlie's store, or the wreckage that had been Charlie's store, and uniformed policemen had taped off the sidewalk until someone could get the glass swept up. â€Å"The tourists have to love this,† Nick Cavuto said, gnawing an unlit cigar. â€Å"Right on the cable-car line. Perfect.† Rivera was sitting in the back room interviewing Lily while Charlie, Jane, and Cassandra tried to sort through the mess and put things back on their shelves. Minty Fresh stood by the front door, wearing shades, looking entirely too cool for the destruction that lay strewn around him. Sophie was content to sit in the corner and feed shoes to Alvin and Mohammed. â€Å"So,† Cavuto said to Charlie, â€Å"some kind of flying monster came through your window and you thought this would be a good place to bring your kid?† Charlie turned to the big cop and leaned on the counter. â€Å"Tell me, Detective, in your professional opinion, what procedure should I use in dealing with robbery by a flying monster? What the fuck is the SFPD giant-fucking-flying-monster protocol, Detective?† Cavuto stood staring at Charlie as if he'd had water thrown in his face, not really angry, just very surprised. Finally, he grinned around his cigar, and said, â€Å"Mr. Asher, I am going to go outside and smoke, call in to the dispatcher, and have her look that particular protocol up. You have stumped me. Would you tell my partner where I've gone?† â€Å"I'll do that,† Charlie said. He went into the office with Lily and Rivera and said, â€Å"Rivera, can I get some police protection here at my apartment – officers with shotguns?† Rivera nodded, patting Lily on the hand as he looked away. â€Å"I can give you two, Charlie, but not for longer than twenty-four hours. You sure you don't want to get out of town?† â€Å"Upstairs we have the security bars and steel doors, we have the hellhounds and Minty Fresh's weapons, and besides, they've already been here. I have a feeling they got what they came for, but the cops would make me feel better.† Lily looked at Charlie. She was in total mascara meltdown and had smudged her lipstick halfway across her face. â€Å"I'm sorry, I thought I would handle it better than this. It was so scary. It wasn't mysterious and cool, it was horrible. The eyes and the teeth – I peed, Asher. I'm sorry.† â€Å"Don't be sorry, kid. You did fine. I'm glad you had the sense to get out of its way.† â€Å"Asher, if you're the Luminatus, that thing must be your competition.† â€Å"What? What is that?† Rivera said. â€Å"It's her weird Gothy stuff, Inspector. Don't worry about it,† Charlie said. He looked through to the door and saw Minty Fresh standing at the front of the shop, looking at him, shrugging, as if saying, Well? So Charlie asked: â€Å"Hey, Lily, are you seeing anyone?† Lily wiped her nose on the sleeve of her chef ‘s coat. â€Å"Look, Asher – I, uh – I'm going to have to withdraw that offer I made you. I mean, after Ray, I'm not sure I really ever want to do that again. Ever.† â€Å"I wasn't asking for me, Lily.† Charlie nodded toward the towering Fresh. â€Å"Oh,† Lily said, following his gaze, now wiping her eyes with her sleeves. â€Å"Oh. Fuck. Cover for me, I've got to regroup.† She dashed into the employee washroom and slammed the door. Rivera looked at Charlie. â€Å"What the hell is going on here?† Charlie was going to try to come up with some kind of answer when his cell phone rang and he held up his finger to pause time. â€Å"Charlie Asher,† he said. â€Å"Charlie, it's Audrey,† came the whispered voice. â€Å"They're here, right now. The Morrigan are here.†

How and why the royal inscriptions in Persia was used and continued to Essay

How and why the royal inscriptions in Persia was used and continued to be used by achaemenids - Essay Example Writing on paper in that era and place was unknown and the Kings inscribed their story on huge rocks and structures (Livius, 1997). This paper examinees a few os such inscriptions to understand why these inscriptions were made and why the Achaemenid kings continued to use them. Specifically the paper would examine the inscriptions of King Darius I, his son Xerxes and Cyrus II the Great. Till King Darius I came to power, the Achaemenid kings were not regarded very seriously and were restricted to small fringe areas. However, King Darius I who ruled from 522 to 486 BC turned the pastoral Achaemenids to be a force to reckon with. The King achieved a number of victories, encouraged trade to grow and the kingdom became wealthy and rich. To announce his achievements to the world and to ensure that his achievements would remain forever, he had his story of victories carve in stone on tall cliffs and towers, where no one could tamper with them. However, unfortunately no one could climb to the heights and read then since the craftsmen removed all access ledges and walkways. Therefore, the inscriptions were created so that the Achaemenid could leave evidence of their achievements for all posterity. Other kings also were equally vain glorious and also wanted to leave evidence of their achievement for posterity and thus the tradition continued. Paper and Papyrus was not easily available in the Achaemenid kingdom and hence the Kings had to use stone as the media for writing (Livius, 1997). King Darius I came to power after killing king Gaumà ¢ta in 522 BC. He also entered into a deadly civil war that he won and he fought many wars and conquered more and more lands. At the time of his death in 486 BC, the Achaemenid kingdom extended till India and Thrace in Greece. After the victories, King Darius I decided to set up the Behistun inscriptions. Behistun was a village in Iran and has many ancient monuments. The village was situated

Gene technology Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gene technology - Lab Report Example The plasmid is 3.5 kb in size (Fig.5). It has two ECoRI restriction sites, hence should break any recombinant DNA into two fragments, i.e. ~3.5 kb and the inserted DNA. In our experiment – There are three fragments of DNA which shows that the inserted PCR product must have one ECoRI site. The ECoRI site in the PCR product is placed almost in the middle breaking it into two fragments, viz. 600 bp and 800 bp (Fig. 6). Interpretation - It appears that the insert has two restriction sites for NCoI (Fig 7). But position of the sites would result in a DNA fragment smaller than 1.5 kb (the total size of the insert), the size discrepancy is difficult to explain. Interpretation – This result is totally unexpected! The bands corresponding to both the restriction enzymes, i.e. at 1.0 kb, 2.5 kb, 3.0 kb are there but in addition there are three other intermediate size DNA fragments. The bands appear to be intermediates produced due to impartial digestion of the recombinant by the two restriction enzymes. Reason – Concentration of the enzymes was less, time of incubation is less than optimum or incubation conditions were inadequate. Sufficient time should be given for the restriction enzymes to act on all the sites. ii. NcoI digestion (Lane 4) – the restriction sites appear to be different than mine (Fig 4a). The NcoI sites appear to be closer in the 16S rDNA extracted by this student and give rise to a DNA fragment of 600 bp. Janda M. and Abbott S.L. (2007). 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing for Bacterial Identification in the Diagnostic Laboratory: Pluses, Perils, and Pitfalls. J. Clin Microbiol. 2007 September; 45(9): 2761–2764. Khare N., Sharma D., Somashekar U., Prakash A., Prakash S., Mendki M.J. and Anvikar A. (2008). Detection of bacterial DNA in cholesterol gall stones. The Internet Journal of Surgery 16 (2). Available from

Commercial Property Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Commercial Property Law - Essay Example Any conflict between the parties shall be resolved in consonance with the tenor of the contract, the spirit and letter of the relevant laws as well as applying common law principles and judicial interpretation rendered by courts or tribunals on similar issues. The interpretation of the parties’ rights and obligation in contractual relationships vary and oftentimes the interest of one party may cloud its judgment thus it is important that independent minds should offer impartial opinions to aid the parties in making informed decisions. It is in this context that our firm was commissioned by Tomes Limited (Tomes) to evaluate its standing in a leasehold agreement whether its posturing against the landlord is valid. The account was assigned to me for appropriate action. II. Factual Background The leasehold contract over an Old Victorian Townhouse was constituted on 1 April 1997 for a period of twenty five years where rent review shall be made at the end of the 5th, 10th and 15th y ears of the term provided that such intention is communicated to the tenant within the 5th, 10th and 15th years. The break clause option is available to either party provided that notice shall be given to the other party during the first six months of the 15th year. The leasehold states that the â€Å"tenant shall put and keep the premises in tenantable repair to include the decorations, wall-surfaces, window frames, glazing, and casements.† The Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 shall be applicable as no effort to exclude its operation was undertaken by the parties. Tomes assumed the lease three years ago and utilizes the demised premises as a book shop—an activity which is not prohibited by the user clause. Its peaceful occupation of the demised properly was interrupted when the landlord demanded that Tomes undertake repair on the cracks in the corners of and right across all the ceilings after a structural inspection revealed that cracking has been caused by flexion of fl oor joists induced by the load imposed by book shelves. The engineer who conducted the structural investigation concluded that the joists may not have been permanently damaged by the load but nonetheless recommends the installation of steel reinforcement of the joists in the floor voids along with load reduction as the upper floors are not particularly well suited to the demands of book storage. III. The Opposing Views The controversy escalated when the landlord insisted that the reinforcement works as recommended by the engineer should be executed by Tomes pursuant to the repairing covenant and its obligation to repair any damage to the demised premises caused by it. The landlord further argues that without the works, the premises cannot properly be used as a book shop. Tomes disagrees claiming that the repairing covenant covers only cosmetic facade and the installation of steel reinforcement cannot be characterized simply as a cosmetic enhancement but one that requires structural repair. Tomes further refuted the move of the landlord for rent review as the review was not timely initiated within the period specified in the leasehold thus estoppel set in. Tomes suspects that the persistence of the landlord to ascribe fault against it is brought about by his recent acquisition of the controlling share in Volumes Limited (Volumes for brevity), a specialist book-seller which needs new retail premises. It would appear that the landlord wants to get Tomes out of the way to install Volumes in the premises

Know What Youre Watching Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Know What Youre Watching - Article Example Why has media piracy increased in recent years? Karajanis argues that the high growth witnessed in media piracy when traced from the 1990s has been attributed to lack of copyright laws world over and where they exist there has been reluctance on the part of law enforcement agencies to implement the full spirit of the law. In effect, piracy has contributed to the disruption of market equilibrium thus providing loopholes for innovations in emerging economies that outdo the technologies which are again correspondingly cheaper when compared to the original creations. At the same, several factors including pricing strategies used by multinationals, trade agreements, and diffusion of technology bear a significant relevance as factors that continue to contribute to the rising effects of piracy. Understanding the meaning of Piracy There seems to be a universal agreement that â€Å"Piracy† does not have a stable and legal definition, and in most circumstances, it is understood as a product of legal enforcement rather than its true implication. On one hand, the IFPI contends that the term implies an omnipresent practice of copying that falls outside the provisions of copyright law â€Å"up to 95% of it if industry estimates of online music piracy are taken as an indicator†. However, in its simplest definition, piracy is understood as the illegal copying and distribution of any media in print, DVDs, videos or electronic files.

The four parts of the S.A.R.A. problem-solving process Essay

The four parts of the S.A.R.A. problem-solving process - Essay Example Analysis is the use of different informational sources to find out the cause of a problem, the responsible parties for it, the entities that are affected, the location of the problem, it’s time of occurrence, and the form it takes. It requires identification of the patterns which describe the conditions facilitating the problem. Response means the execution of actions that not only address the problem analysis phase’s most important findings but also address at least two of these; deflecting offenders to prevent occurrences of problem again, safeguarding the likely victims, and reducing the tendency of crime locations to be problematic. Assessment means gauging the responses’ impact on the targeted crime problem by use of the collected information from different sources before as well as after their implementation. An example of its use by an officer is when a problem like a murder needs to be investigated in a neighborhood. The S.A.R.A. model helps the officer identify the problem’s cause, its stakeholders, effectively respond to it, and assessing its impacts to ensure it does not happen

Six Thousand Women Missing in Top Management Jobs Assignment

Six Thousand Women Missing in Top Management Jobs - Assignment Example A sizeable proportion of women is not being seen at the top echelons of management in public, private or legal bodies. The phenomenon is being observed across nations despite the development index or political ideology and is also not specific to certain sectors but is spread across sectors with some variations. Equal Opportunity Commission recently in a study (as cited by Curtis 2007) informed that the glass ceiling is holding back women in Britain from top 6000 positions to attain the representative proportion. A survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (2006) showed that in Cyprus, women hold only 12 % of the top executive positions. African women hold only 0.9% of key management positions and the world over the average percentage of women ranges between 10% and less on both sides of the Atlantic. (Mnganga, 2003). Most of these studies also observed that women are entering the workforce with equal qualifications but progress to top echelons is hampered. International Labour Organisation ( ILO) noted in its proceedings (ILO, 1998) that "women's access to top management posts was still severely restricted though they frequently matched or exceeded their male counterparts in terms of formal qualifications and technical know-how". There are three issues attached to this phenomenon requiring incisive inquiry. Where do these women disappear & what happens to them Does it matter and to whom What should be done, if it matters Where do these women disappear & what happens to them Women are valued if they take care of family responsibilities and vice versa. Working mothers try to balance work and family. Visible and often invisible barriers emerge from the sexual division of labor. The work culture also has a long inheritance of male dominance, which celebrates masculine qualities nested in late hours, old boy's network and informal networks. (ILO, 1998). The task of balancing both the worlds take its toll and many women start treading on a stagnated path and do not actualize their potential. Some quit in between to remain at home and in the process strengthening the stereotyped role of women and probably not even fuelling the ambitions of next-generation daughters to conquer the sky. Though some of these women break away to form their own enterprises and studies suggest that these enterprises do remarkably well. Only very few women succeed in breaking the glass ceiling. (Treanor, 2007; Bawden, 2007).  

Compare and contrast Jade Snow Wong and Richard Rodriguez as learners Essay

Compare and contrast Jade Snow Wong and Richard Rodriguez as learners and users of two languages(chinese vs spanish) - Essay Example There are different ways that Jade Snow Wong and Richard Rodriguez have learned different languages (Chinese and Spanish) in shaping their relationships and world view. This is manifested in their books Fifth Chinese Daughter by Jade Snow Wong and Hunger of Memory-Aria by Richard Rodriguez (Gudykunst). It is essential to observe that both writers grew up in foreign lands from their original nations. For example, Richard Rodriquez narrates his experiences in Sacramento, California, in family that only spoke Spanish. During this period of growing up, the young Rodriguez experiences several setbacks caused by language because he had a Mexican history that is different from that of his new place (Gudykunst 66). The author notes that he attends a Catholic school in Sacramento that speaks only English thus causing a language barrier for his young life. In other words, the writer implies that he got inculcated into a culture that was different from one he had witnessed in his childhood. On the other hand, Jade Snow Wong speaking in the third person aspect in her book The Fifth Chinese Daughter observes that she came from a conservative family in San Francisco. The author notes that their first generation family was poor with a lot of discrimination upon girls being a part of the culture. In that aspect, there are tales of domination of the female by the male in the family of Jade Snow Wong that is an indication of stigma against in society. Therefore, the author observes that because of such prejudices against, it was hard for girls such as her to acquire education (Gudykunst 69). This means there was no means of learning a language of overcoming the culture barrier. However, the author narrates her resilience to overcome insurmountable odds of by proving her abilities and talents in various fields. The above two authors are similar in the aspect of growing up under a foreign language that did not resemble that of their childhoods. Similarly, both of them made determi nations of learning the new languages by overcoming the barriers of family and culture shock as noted in their respective books. However, there differences in terms of gender and the superseding advantages that followed for the writers. For instance, while Richard Rodriguez found it a little easy in Sacramento, California during his learning period, that was not the case for Jade Snow. She laments that her family treated females as inferior hence there no need to challenge authority if you were a girl. In other words, the writer attempts to highlight the challenges of learning a new language under the yoke of a conservative culture that treats women with contempt. Therefore, while Rodriguez only faces the challenge of distorted childhood in a new place, Jade Snow grapples with gender inequality that is ingrained their first family that started living in San Francisco before the eruption of World War Two. Alternatively, there is the issue of the cultural divide that is prevalent in t he lives of the two authors in terms of forcing their varying cultural inclinations to those of other nations (Gudykunst 74). Another interesting distinctive feature concerning how the authors learned their two languages and their growth in English entails the sound of the foreign language. For example, according Rodriguez in Hunger of Memory-Aria, the author concurs that the application of varying languages in terms of sounds is paramount in shaping

Answers follow questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Answers follow questions - Essay Example 2. There was growing tension in the college after one of our beloved student was mugged and killed by people believed to be from the surrounding community. Students planned a peaceful demonstration to pass their messages of condolences and bereavement. The peaceful demonstration turned into a riot. As a student leader, I was able to influence the rioting students and controlled the tempers. I reminded them of the importance of dialogue in solving such problems. Striking and demolishing properties would not help bring our friend back but only cause more harm to our surrounding community. The students adhered to my speech and continued with a peaceful demonstration. 3. I come from a poor community where most of the students are unable to raise fee for their education. I am a good example of those helped by Imani Education Fund Group for needy students to attain their education. Every year the group conducts a thanks-giving ceremony. The ceremony provides a platform for raising more funds for needy students. I have been participating actively in this activity by soliciting funds and encouraging the society to contribute and help raise the next generation. With the help of my friends, I also organize and visit children orphanages. We usually give them our physical, mental, and spiritual support. 4. Once I am through with my college, I intend to be employed by big companies like Google, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Microsoft and may others in the department of marketing or human resource manager. Completion of my education successfully will furnish me with good skills and knowledge on how handling such multinational companies in terms of human resource management and marketing. My knowledge of management will help me in controlling, directing, staffing, evaluating my staff at work. My knowledge of marketing will furnish me with knowledge of understanding the aspects of supply chain, comparative

Analogy of Poetry Essay Example for Free

Analogy of Poetry Essay The poem There Is Another Sky by Emily Dickinson was a poem written for her brother Austin. Emily uses nature to explain the message she is trying to provide for him. The poem provides a hopeful and positive feeling. The poem is full of optimism and inspiration. The pint of the poem is to provide encouragement and offer guidance. The lines â€Å"Here is a brighter garden† and â€Å"And there is another sunshine† demonstrate the optimism she is trying to portray. There are no stanzas or major events in the poem. The order that the aspects of nature are presented in provides. The last few lines of the poem further enhance the message. The poem ends with an open invitation for Austin to leave his gloomy state. Dickinson shows a sincere concern while providing inspiration for both the readers and her brother. She describes a utopia throughout the poem and uses words to describe a better place such as serene, fair, brighter, and unfading. The title there is another sky provides the since that there is an alternative option instead of a consistent negative outlook on life. There is a change in tone after the dash. Before the dash Dickinson states that there is a negative place and recognizes that everything in life doesn’t always work in your favor. She also uses â€Å"there is† creating distance. After the dash Dickinson implies that there in fact is another sky. She uses â€Å"here is† which implies that she can provide a better situation. Knowing that the poem is for her brother almost obligates you to feel sympathy for him and makes her message even stronger. Overall, Emily is trying to say that entering a new mind set and believing that there is a light at the end of the tunnel can provide you with a new attitude.

Economic Problems Solved By Various Societies Economics Essay

Economic Problems Solved By Various Societies Economics Essay The recent turbulence in financial markets in most developed economies has shown that market forces are no better at solving societys economics than any other mechanism This question relates to how economic problems are solved by various societies. An economics system is a countrys plan to answer the economic problems of what should be produced, how and for whom; it is an Organized  way in which a state or  nation  allocates  it resources  and apportions  goods  and  services  in the society. There are three major types of economy, a free market economy, a planned economy and a mixed economy. A free market economy  is a system for  allocating goods within a society which is mainly driven by  supply and demand; purchasing power within the market determines who gets what is produced, rather than the state. Examples of these economies are US, France. In this type of economic system, speculation, assumptions, and market forces are significant in determining economic growth. The aim of a market economy is to reduce or be completely devoid of all pre-determined prices for some products, and the level of regulation is minimal. 2The role of the  government in a market economy is to ensure that the market is stable enough to carry out its economic activities properly. Free-market economics is closely associated with laissez fair economic philosophy, which limits government involvement in economic matters to regulating This system has the biggest advantage of rewarding hard work and consumers getting what they can afford rather than giving everyone the same thing. It leads to growth through individual prosperity but monopolies arise and distort the market The next economic system is the planned economy, in this kind of economy the major decisions such as the goods, production method, distribution and the prices of the goods, all these important decisions are made by the government. Countries such as the old USSR and North Korea have a totalitarian government with socialist economies, where the government fix prices from the procurement of raw materials to the price its sold to the consumer. It is usually stable; it aims to meet a collective objective rather than individual needs, under such a system, rewards, whether wages or perquisites, are to be distributed according to the value that the state ascribes to the service performance. And finally a Mixed Economy, it is an Economic system in which resources are more equally divided between private and government ownership. This system integrates both elements of the market and planned economies in one organized system seeking to reach a balance between them. The business sector and the government play an important role in decision making as regards to the economy but a mixed economy results in neither business entities nor the government controlling the  economic  activities of that country. In a mixed economy, there is a lot of flexibility in certain sectors and in other sectors government control exists. Free market economy compared to a planned economy or a mixed economy has it its various advantages and disadvantages; A planned economy in theory appears more stable than the other two because it is not subject to various economic crises that the market economy and a mixed economy face, i.e. the business cycles such as the housing market bubble and the recession with high rate of unemployment There is also a question of efficiency, free markets and mixed economies contrast sharply with  controlled markets  , in which governments directly or indirectly regulate prices or supplies, which according to free-market theory causes markets to be less efficient. ; It  also lacks innovation that the other two systems possess, free market and mixed economies encourage specialization of labour, eliminate costly and complex bureaucracy. However, a planned economy has some advantages over the free market system in regard to efficiency; a planned economy  aims to use all existing resources for manufacturing public goods rather than directing some of those resources to advertising or marketing. It appears that a free market system could lead to more inequality due to the uneven distribution of power and wealth; property owner, big business shareholders will have access or gain more power compared to the less well off. A disadvantage of a market economic system is that, though competing firms try to be efficient to keep costs and prices low, it sometimes creates a monopoly, a few large firms may hike prices, sometimes pricing a certain part of the society out of various products. A planned economy on the other hand , national income could be distributed more equally in accordance with needs; public goods that would be described as necessities such as health care, In a planned economy, state planners would allocate state resources toward public goods and state projects, this might not necessarily be available in a market economy, or might require precise government provision (which then makes it a mixed economy), in a mixed economy, the government would have to achieve this goal through taxation or inflation. Mixed and free market economies are flexible, production reacts almost immediately to the movement of demand; a planned economy lacks the kind of flexibility and because of this, it reacts slower to changes in consumer needs and variable patterns of demand and supply. A planned economy eliminates the individual profit motives as the driving force of production and places it in the hands of the state planners to determine what is the appropriate production of different sets of goods; on the other hand because a market economy is profit oriented, it leads to innovation and creativity which a planned economy lacks. In a mixed or market economy, there is a plethora of choices, it lets the consumer choose according to their preferences which is evident through the interaction between supply and demand but a planned economy more often than not cannot detect consumer preferences. A free market system might not be better than a planned economy or a mixed one, it all lies in the balance, and no one system can guarantee absolute success. The market economy is clearly the system of choice in todays global marketplace but mixed economies should be encouraged which is largely what countries like France, U.K and the US practice, there is a considerable amount of government interventions to ensure stability although they could be classified as practicing a free market system because they allow market forces drive their economic activities. What the financial meltdown of 2007-2010 showed was that a totally free market doesnt necessarily make the best system. With some of the developed countries manufacturing less and relying more on financial services as the basis for their economic growth, for examples the UK, leaving the various financial institutions with little or no regulations has left the consumers exposed and the world economy in tatters. In conclusion, having a system where the government step in with regulations is imperative to prevent this sort of melt down in the near future. There ought to be directives and regulatory bodies to police the activities of private business enough to protect the end user and the economy but not too much, so as not to stifle growth. Free market system has shown it is not fail proof just as much as a command economy is not. A market economy combined with some degree of regulation, and special directives to stabilize prices by the government to protect people with low income can provide idyllic circumstances for developing countries like India, Brazil, China and other South East Asian countries to attain growth and prosperity.

Effects Of Tourism In Africa Outweigh The Negative Effects Tourism Essay

Effects Of Tourism In Africa Outweigh The Negative Effects Tourism Essay Ecotourism is responsible travel to perfect and usually protected areas. With the purpose to teach the traveler, supply capital for ecological conservation and ensure economic development and political authorization, it also promotes value for different cultures and for human rights. Countries in Africa are now focusing on tourism as a cause of growth and diversification, but with limited policy guidance from most donors, despite the sectors potential. Ecotourism has become one of the fastest-growing sectors of the tourism industry, growing annually by 10-15% worldwide (Miller, 2007). One definition of ecotourism is the practice of low-impact, educational, ecologically and culturally sensitive travel that benefits local communities and host countries (Honey, 1999). South Africa as one of the countries in Africa is obtaining considerable economic remuneration from ecotourism, although negative consequences including removing people from their homes, infringement of fundamental rights, and environmental hazards which according to Miller far outweigh the medium-term economic benefits (Miller, 2007).A great amount of money is being exhausted and human resources are continually being used up for tourism in spite of the negative effects, and a larger amount of money is put into public relation campaigns to dissolve the criticism from the locals and public. Tourism directs resources away from other schemes that could possibly supply maintainable and realistic results to pressing social and environmental tribulations. The money tourism can generate often ties parks and managements to eco-tourism (Walpole et al. 2001).However there is worry concerning the changes in land-use rights, false hope in the delivery of community benefits, damage to the environment and plenty other social impacts. Indeed its an argument to consider eco-tourism as neither ecologically nor socially beneficial, but it is still a strategy for. Indeed many argue repeatedly that eco-tourism is neither ecologically nor socially beneficial, this is somewhat true but it too persists as a strategy for preservation and growth. WTTC/WEFA forecast that tourism and travel would account for over 11% of GDP in Sub-Saharan African countries in 1999 and has a growth rate of over 5%. The tourism system has tremendous financial and political influence. It is said that Funding could be used for field studies aimed at finding alternative solutions to tourism and the diverse problems Africa faces in result of urbanization, industrialization, and the over exploitation of agriculture (Kamuaro, 2007). Tourism has has become the source of conflict regarding the control of land, resources and profits made. It has therefore caused harm to the locals and the topic of profit distribution is one thats not desired as it leads to At the local level, ecotourism has become a source of conflict over control of land, resources, and tourism profits. In this case, ecotourism has harmed the environment and local people, and has led to conflicts over profit distribution. In a perfect world more efforts would be made towards educating tourists of the environmental and social effects of their travels. Very few regulations or laws stand in place as boundaries for the investors in ecotourism. These should be implemented to prohibit the promotion of unsustainable ecotourism projects and materials which project false images of destinations, demeaning local and indigenous cultures. Tourism is often considered volatile. As a global industry, all destinations face the heightened risk of terrorist attacks, which, together with civil strife, war and natural disasters, can terminate demand for the product for a prolonged period. Crime and poor public health standards in a specific destination can greatly reduce demand for an indefinite period after it is evidenced. There are some advantages to Tourism. Tourism is labor intensive with some two employees required per hotel room in developing countries, depending on the type of hotel and local skill levels. Comparisons of investment costs per job in tourism compared with manufacturing, presuppose that countries have a free choice between these alternatives, as well as comparable market entry for each activity. Nevertheless, there is some evidence that tourism is more labor intensive than manufacturing and employs a higher proportion of the low skilled and women. Only in a few small, resource-rich developing countries will the opportunity cost of such labor equal the wages payable in tourism. An often-neglected facet of employment in the sector is that tourism, in fact, creates good jobs. Physical working conditions are healthier and safer than in sugar cane, mining, logging and, often, manufacturing, among other economic activities. But, also, hotels and tourist services create jobs such as waiters, maintenance engineers, and drivers, which are relatively well paid, particularly when supplemented by tips. Finally, it appears that tourism can generate more than sufficient taxes to compensate for public investments. Although, it is said that the negative effects of tourism outweigh the positive ones. There seems to be a lot of resentment and feelings of inferiority amongst the locals. The government should have to choose one over the other (and the priority should be the culture and the people over financial revenue). Even if it means less money will be received from tourists by portraying a culture like that of the Philippines. The government cannot attempt to do both. One of the real issues in tourism everywhere in developing countries is how to extend the benefits to the poor and to local communities. Although ecotourism is intended for small groups, even a modest increase in population, however temporary, puts extra pressure on the local environment and necessitates the development of additional infrastructure and amenities. The construction of water treatment plants, sanitation facilities, and lodges come with the exploitation of non-renewable energy sources and the utilization of already limited local resources. Aside from environmental degradation with tourist infrastructure, population pressures from ecotourism also leaves behind garbage and pollution associated with the Western lifestyle.[17] Although eco-tourists claim to be educationally sophisticated and environmentally concerned, they rarely understand the ecological consequences of their visits and how their day-to-day activities append physical impacts on the environment. Ecotourism is now also considered to be playing a role in this depletion. While the term ecotourism may sound relatively benign, one of its most seri ous impacts is its consumption of virgin territories (Kamuaro, 2007). These invasions often include deforestation, disruption of ecological life systems and various forms of pollution, all of which contribute to environmental degradation. In some cases, the resentment by local people results in environmental degradation. As a highly publicized case, the Masai nomads in Kenya killed wildlife in national parks to show aversion to unfair compensation terms and displacement from traditional lands.[ One of the most powerful examples of communities being moved in order to create a park is the story of the Masai. About 70% of national parks and game reserves in East Africa are on Masai land (Kamuaro, 2007). The first undesirable impact of tourism was that of the extent of land lost from the Masai culture. Local and national governments took advantage of the Masais ignorance on the situation and robbed them of huge chunks of grazing land, putting to risk their only socio-economic livelihood. Ecotourism often claims that it preserves and enhances local cultures. However, evidence shows that with the establishment of protected areas local people have illegally lost their homes, and most often with no compensation (Kamuaro, 2007). Pushing people onto marginal lands with harsh climates, poor soils, lack of water, and infested with livestock and disease does little to enhance livelihoods even when a proportion of ecotourism profits are directed back into the community. The establishment of parks can create harsh survival realities and deprive the people of their traditional use of land and natural resources. Ethnic groups are increasingly being seen as a backdrop to the scenery and wildlife. While governments are typically entrusted with the administration and enforcement of environmental protection, they often lack the commitment or capability to manage ecotourism sites effectively. The regulations for environmental protection may be vaguely defined, costly to implement, hard to enforce, and uncertain in effectiveness. The increased contributions of communities to locally managed ecotourism create viable economic opportunities, including high level management positions, and reduce environmental issues associated with poverty and unemployment. Because the ecotourism experience is marketed to a different lifestyle from large scale ecotourism, the development of facilities and infrastructure does not need to conform to corporate Western tourism standards, and can be much simpler and less expensive. There is a greater multiplier effect on the economy, because local products, materials, and labor are used. Profits accrue locally and import leakages are reduced.[19] However, even this form of tourism may require foreign investment for promotion or start up. When such investments are required, it is crucial for communities for find a company or non-governmental organization that reflects the philosophy of ecotourism; sensitive to their concerns and willing to cooperate at the expense of profit. In conclusion, Ecotourism and Tourism in Africa as a whole should be reconsidered. The depletion of natural resources and cultures is a drastic change thats most of the time now worth the finance and is irreversible. The bad outweighs the good and Tourism should be accepted and its effects should be reduced.

Database :: essays research papers

The Database   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Databases are becoming as common in the workplace as the stapler. Businesses use databases to keep track of payroll, vacations, inventory, and a multitude of other taske of which are to vast to mention here. Basically businesses use databases anytime a large amount of data must be stored in such a manor that it can easily be searched, categorized and recalled in different means that can be easily read and understood by the end user. Databases are used extensively where I work. In fact, since Hyperion Solutions is a database and financial intelligence software developing company we produce one. To keep the material within scope I shall narrow the use of databases down to what we use just in the Orlando office of Hyperion Solutions alone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the Orlando office we have three main databases. We have a Microsoft Access Database, a Visual Source Safe database, and a Microsoft SQL server database with a custom web client front end. The Microsoft Access database is fairly simple. We use this data base to keep track of the computer hardware and software configurations that are used when doing quality assurance testing and problem replication and troubleshooting of the software product. For any one product we can have up to twenty or thirty different configurations. Initially keeping track of the configurations along with the machine name and IP address was done on paper with a grid like matrix. After a short period of time, this became extremely time consuming and impractical. A simple database was set up in Access and then the database was shared to allow each user to be able to find out what configuration each computer was in for that day or that week so that the proper tests and or bug reporting could be conducted. The database allows the users to search by software version, platform type, operating system, machine name, IP address, memory size, and several other items that are not as significant. Before the database was created the engineer would have to leave their desk find the chart and to a cross reference using the matrix that was drawn up, and hopefully that matrix was kept up to date. Now as the technicians update or change the machine configurations they can enter that information immediately into the database and it will automatically provide a matrix view or a tabular view for any engineer who needs it.

Gifted Education :: Teaching Education

Gifted Education Running head: GIFTED EDUCATION/CIVIL RIGHTS Education of Gifted Students A Civil Rights Issue? Article Critique Education of Gifted Students A Civil Rights Issue? This paper seeks to answer the question: "Is the differential representation of the sexes and of racial and ethnic groups in educational programs for gifted students a civil rights problem?" The author does a more than adequate job of presenting the arguments on both sides of the issue and drawing logical inferences. The article seeks to identify the actual dilemma and proposes possible approaches for resolution. Much of the school system today has been shaped by the civil rights laws of the past. The writer notes that the link these rights have to education is the pledge of an equal opportunity for all children to learn and be educated in this country. Schools must accomplish this without regard to race, creed or gender. The author notes that there have been references to the gifted programs being just another subtle form of segregation by the white upper-middle-class. These concerns arise from the fact that the representation of the sexes and of ethnic groups within the gifted classes reflects just such a phenomenon. The unjustified beliefs of genetic inferiority of some races have long since been denounced. These unfounded beliefs have been replaced by research which indicates that the genetic component of intelligence is augmented by the nurturing environment (or lack thereof) of a child. The paper sites twin studies, which give creedence to the genetic component of intelligence, and notes these differences apply within the different ethnic and racial groups. The author attributes an almost equal role to the environment of the child referring to nurturing as the "crystallization of native abilities." Noting the differences between the sexes in math and verbal skills, the author seeks to validate this conception. The author sees the cultural values of society as an unavoidable encroachment upon the genders resulting in these differences. I beg to differ, as molecular and developmental studies have shown that there are structural and biological differences in the brains of males and females (Zhang, 1995; Palego, 2000). As a molecular biologist I would be more inclined to attribute differences to the biochemical aspects of development. The writer next addresses the inequities of intelligence tests and accurately identifies them as mere predictors of future academic performance.

Industrial Electrician

CAREER SUMMATIVE Who is an industrial electrician? Industrial electricians install, maintain, test, troubleshoot and repair industrial electrical equipment and associated electrical and electronic controls. They are employed by electrical contractors and maintenance departments of factories, plants, mines, shipyards and other industrial establishments. Education requirements: -Completion of secondary school is usually required. -Completion of a four- or five-year industrial electrician apprenticeship program ORA combination of over five years of work experience in the trade and some high school, college or industry courses in industrial electrical equipment is usually required to be eligible for trade certification. -Trade certification for industrial electricians is compulsory. Pros: -You can have the opportunity to meet and work with a variety of people. -Since electricity is vital to virtually all aspects of today's society, it is an extremely stable career field.Cons: -There is s ome danger. Extreme caution needs to be taken when working with electricity since mistakes can potentially lead to fire or electrocution. -You may have to deal with extreme heights (for example, working on the outside of a high-rise building). Employment prospects: Average Prospect details: Your work prospects will continue to be AVERAGE because the employment growth rate will likely be close to the average.The retirement rate will likely be above average and the number of retiring workers should contribute to job openings. The number of job seekers will likely match the number of job openings. Estimated annual salary: $65,484. 00 Useful Courses: -Math -Physics -Industrial Arts (Electricity) -English -Blueprint Reading Useful experiences: -Maintenance -Construction/manufacturing -Appliance repair -Diagrams/blueprints -Troubleshooting Estimated annual salary: $65,484. 00

Critical Thinking at Work Essay

The aforementioned â€Å"Rational Model† actually entails following 4 processes including: First of all is to pinpoint or identify the problem; second is to bring into being diverse alternatives/answers to the problem that has just been identified; third is to choose or pick a solution from the second stage or process; and last but not least is to implement the chosen solution before finally assessing it (Decision Making, n. d. ). The description provided will be further understood in the following example taken from my personal experience at the William Smith Sr. Tri-County Early Head Start. Example from My Personal Experience at William Smith Sr. Tri-County Early Head Start Keith A. , a student of the William Smith Sr. Tri-County Early Head Start has often been exhibiting temper tantrums. There are times when he would throw objects at other kids, slap them, lash out at them, etc. He does not seem to know how to calm down. The same thing happened during one of the weekly field trips. All of a sudden, he pushed his seatmate in the bus, yelled at her, and then eventually hit her. Following that incident, a school official seated behind him stood up and sat next to him. I thought she was just going to speak to the child, remind him that what he did was an unacceptable behavior, and oblige him to apologize to his seatmate, etc. But instead of doing so, he held the boy’s hands tightly and angrily told him to behave. When the young boy yelled at the school official, he held Keith’s cheek tightly, said â€Å"you better show some respect young man†. Keith spit at the school official as a response and so he was slapped in return. I did not protect the child. I did not have the courage to tell the school official that he should not treat the young boy that way even if what he did was wrong. Later that day, I was torn between telling the truth and just letting the occurrence pass. I knew in my heart that what the school official did was wrong. It clearly defies the philosophy/vision/mission, as well as, goals of the programs offered in William Smith Sr. Tri-County Early Head Start (William Smith, Sr. , Tri-County Child Development Council, Inc. , n. d. ). I would like to tell the head of the school about what I saw so that the school official who did that to Keith would be subjected to disciplinary action/s and so that such an untoward incident would never happen again because if it did so many students will probably be traumatized if that is how they will be treated if they misbehaved. It is quite difficult on my part to go to the head of the school though and relay what I had just witnessed earlier that day because I am only an ordinary â€Å"rank-and-file employee†. It would be my word as an ordinary employee against the high and mighty school official. It could mean loss of a job on my part. Importance/Benefits of Critical Thinking in the Decision-making Process I utilized the â€Å"Rational Model† here. First, I have identified the problem, which is whether or not to report the untoward incident that I witnessed. Second, I have realized the choices: a) I will tell the head about it to prevent such occurrence in the future; or b) I will just keep it to myself so as to keep my job as well. Third is to pick choice â€Å"a† because it is the right thing to do. Finally, carry it out. Critical thinking played a large role in the decision-making process that I had engaged in since I was able to balance/weigh everything before I moved. Without the â€Å"Rational Model† and without the process of critical thinking, I would not be able to decide objectively and probably arrived at the wrong/unethical decision. References Decision Making. (n. d. ). Retrieved January 17, 2008 from http://72. 14. 253. 104/search? q=cache:ycQOog9jFygJ:www. unf. edu/~gbaker/Man6204/Decision. PDF+decision-making+models&hl=tl&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=ph&client=firefox-a William Smith, Sr. , Tri-County Child Development Council, Inc. (n. d. ). About Us. Retrieved January 17, 2008 from http://www. wsstricounty. org/About. html

Review of The Drunkard’s Walk †How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Mlodinow Essay

Read the book â€Å"The Drunkard’s Walk – How Randomness Rules Our Lives† by Mlodinow and pay special attend to the following questions. Some of these questions may appear on quizzes and exams. Chapter 1 Peering through the Eyepiece of Randomness 1. Explain the phenomenon â€Å"regression toward the mean.† In any series of random events an extraordinary event is most likely to be followed, due purely to chance, by a more ordinary one. 2. What factors determine whether a person will be successful in career, investment, etc.? Success in our careers, in our investments, and in our life decisions, both major and minor—is as much the result of random factors as the result of skill, preparedness, and hard work. 3. Was Paramount’s firing of Lansing the correct decision? After she was fired, Paramount films market share rebounded. No, Lansing was fired because of industry’s misunderstanding of randomness and not because of her own flawed decision making. Lansing had good luck at the beginning and bad luck at the end. Chapter 2 The Laws of Truths and Half-Truths 1. What coined the term probability, or probabilis? (Latin: probabilis credible) Cicero’s principal legacy in the field of randomness is the term he used, probabilis, which is the origin of the term we employ today. But it is one part of the Roman code of law, the Digest, compiled by Emperor Justinian in the sixth century, that is the first document in which probability appears as an everyday term of art 2. What is the rule for compounding probabilities? How to compute probability that one event and another event both happening? According to the correct manner of compounding probabilities, not only do two half proofs yield less than a whole certainty, but no finite number of partial proofs will ever add up to a certainty because to compound probabilities, you don’t  add them; you multiply. That brings us to our next law, the rule for compounding probabilities: If two possible events, A and B, are independent, then the probability that both A and B will occur is equal to the product of their individual probabilities. 3. Is the Roman rule of half proofs: two half proofs constitute a whole proof, correct? What do two half proofs constitute by the rule of compounding probabilities? 4. Suppose an airline has 1 seat left on a flight and 2 passengers have yet to show up. If there is a 2 in 3 chance a passenger who books a seat will arrive to claim it, what is the probability that the airline will have to deal with an unhappy customer? What is the probability that neither customer will show up? What is the assumption? What is the probability that either both passengers or neither passenger will show up? 5. In DNA testing for legal trial, there is 1 in 1 billion accidental match and 1 in 100 laberror match. What is the probability that there is both an accidental match and a lab error? What is the probability that one error or the other occurred? Which probability is more relevant? Chapter 3 Finding Your Way through a Space of Possibilities 1. What is â€Å"sample space†? 2. What is Cardano’s law of the sample space? (P. 62) 3. In the Monty Hall problem, why should the player switch after the host’s intervention? Chapter 4 Tracking the Pathways to Success 1. The grand duke of Tuscany’s problem: what is the probability of obtaining 10 when you throw three dice? What about 9? 2. What is Cardano’s law of the sample space? 3. What is the application of Pascal’s triangle? 4. For the Yankees-Braves World Series example, for the remaining 5 games, what is the probability that the Yankees win 2 games? 1 game? 5. What is mathematical expectation? 6. Explain why a state lottery is equivalent to: Of all those who pay the dollar or two to enter, most will receive nothing, one person will receive a fortune, and one person will be put to death in a violent manner? Chapter 5 The Dueling Laws of Large and Small Numbers? 1. What is Benford’s law? Discuss some applications in business. 2. Explain the difference between the frequency interpretation and the subjective interpretation of randomness. 3. Do psychics exist? 4. What is tolerance of error, tolerance of uncertainty, statistical significance? 5. Describe some applications from the book of the law of large numbers and the law of small numbers. Chapter 6 Bayes’s Theory 1. Two-daughter problem In a family with two children, what are the chances that both children are girls? Ans: 25% In a family with two children, what are the chances, if one of the children is a girl, that both children are girls? Ans 33% In a family with two children, what are the chances, if one of the children is a girl named Florida, that both children are girls? Ans: 50% 2. How to apply Bayes’s Theory to determine car insurance rates? Ans : Models employed to determine car insurance rates include a mathematical function describing, per unit of driving time, your personal probability of having zero, one, or more accidents. Consider, for our purposes, a simplified model that places everyone in one of two categories: high risk, which includes drivers who average at least one accident each year, and low risk, which includes drivers who average less than one. If, when you apply for insurance, you have a driving record that stretches back twenty years without an accident or one that goes back twenty years with thirty-seven accidents, the insurance company can be pretty sure which category to place you in. But if you are a new driver, should you be classified as low risk (a kid who obeys the speed limit and volunteers to be the designated driver) or high risk (a kid who races down Main Street swigging from a half-empty $2 bottle of Boone’s Farm apple wine)? Since the company has no data on you—no idea of the â€Å"position of the first ball†Ã¢â‚¬â€it might assign you an equal prior  probability of being in either group, or it might use what it knows about the general population of new drivers and start you off by guessing that the chances you are a high risk are, say, 1 in 3. In that case the company would model you as a hybrid—one-third high risk and two-thirds low risk—and charge you one-third the price it charges high-risk drivers plus two-thirds the price it charges low risk drivers. Then, after a year of observation—that is, after one of Bayes’s second balls has been thrown—the company can employ the new datum to reevaluat e its model, adjust the one-third and two-third proportions it previously assigned, and recalculate what it ought to charge. If you have had no accidents, the proportion of low risk and low price it assigns you will increase; if you have had two accidents, it will decrease. The precise size of the adjustment is given by Bayes’s theory. In the same manner the insurance company can periodically adjust its assessments in later years to reflect the fact that you were accident-free or that you twice had an accident while driving the wrong way down a one way street, holding a cell phone with your left hand and a doughnut with your right. That is why insurance companies can give out â€Å"good driver† discounts: the absence of accidents elevates the posterior probability that a driver belongs in a low-risk group. 3. Probability of correct diagnosis Suppose in 1989, statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show about 1 in 10,000 heterosexual non-IV-drug-abusing white male Americans who got tested were infected with HIV. Also suppose about 1 person out of every 10,000 will test positive due to the presence of the infection. Suppose 1 in 1,000 will test positive even if not infected with HIV (false positive). What is the probability that a patient who tested positive is in fact healthy? Ans: So if you test 10 000 people you will have 11 positives – 1 who is really infected, 10 are false positives. Of the 11 positive testees, only 1 has HIV, that is, 1/11. Therefore the probability that a positive testee is healthy = 10 / 11 = 90.9% 4. O. J. Simpson trial According to FBI statistics, 4 million women are battered annually by husbands and boyfriends in U.S. and in 1992 1,432 or 1 in 2500 were killed by their husbands or boyfriends. The probability that a man who batters his wife will go on to kill her is 1 in 2500. The probability that a battered wife who was murdered was murdered by her abuser is 90%. Which probability is relevant to the O. J. trial? What is the fundamental difference between probability and statistics? Ans: 1) Relevant one is the probability that a battered wife who was murdered was murdered by her abuser = 90%. 2)the fundamental difference between probability and statistics: the former concerns predictions based on fixed probabilities; the latter concerns the inference of those probabilities based on observed data. Chapter 7 Measurement and the Law of Errors 1. Election Why did the author argue that â€Å"when elections come out extremely close, perhaps we ought to accept them as is, or flip a coin, rather than conducting recount after recount?† Ans: (pg= 127 and 128) Elections, like all measurements, are imprecise, and so are the recounts, so when elections come out extremely close, perhaps we ought to accept them as is, or flip a coin, rather than conducting recount after recount. 2. What is mathematical statistics? Ans: Mathematical statistics, provides a set of tools for the interpretation of the data that arise from observation and experimentation. Statisticians sometimes view the growth of modern science as revolving around that development, the creation of a theory of measurement. But statistics also provides tools to address real-world issues, such as the effectiveness of drugs or the popularity of politicians, so a proper understanding of statistical reasoning is as useful in everyday life as it is in science. 3. Wine tasting Should we believe in wine ratings from those â€Å"wine experts†? Why or why not? Two groups wine tasting experts produce the following results: (a) 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 (b) 80 81 82 87 89 89 90 90 90 91 91 94 97 99 100 Compare the two groups of data. (pg 134) From the theoretical viewpoint, there are many reasons to question the significance of wine ratings. For one thing, taste perception depends on a complex interaction between taste and olfactory stimulation. Strictly speaking, the sense of taste comes from five types of receptor cells on the tongue: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami. The last responds to certain amino acid compounds (prevalent, for example, in soy sauce). But if that were all there was to taste perception, you could mimic everything—your favorite steak, baked potato, and apple pie feast or a nice spaghetti Bolognese—employing only table salt, sugar, vinegar, quinine, and monosodium glutamate. Fortunately there is more to gluttony than that, and that is where the sense of smell comes in. The sense of smell explains why, if you take two identical solutions of sugar water and add to one a (sugar-free) essence of strawberry, it will taste sweeter than the other.15 The perceived taste of wine arises from the effects of a stew of between 600 and 800 volatile organic compounds on both the tongue and the nose.16 That’s a problem, given that studies have shown that even flavor-trained professionals can rarely reliably identify more than three or four components in a mixture 4. Can professional mutual fund managers (stock pickers) beat students who pick stocks by tossing coins? 5. What is the margin of error in a poll? Should variation within the margin of error be ignored in a poll? Ans: < 5% (or 3.5%). Yes, any variation within the margin of error should be ignored in a poll 6. What is the central limit theorem? Ans: The probability that the sum of a large number of independent random factors will take on any given value is distributed according to the normal distribution. Chapter 8 The Order in Chaos 1. Who are the founders of statistics? Graunt and his friend William Petty have been called the founders of statistics, a field sometimes considered lowbrow by those in pure mathematics owing to its focus on mundane practical issues, and in that sense John Graunt in particular makes a fitting founder. 2. How did Graunt estimate the population of London in 1662? What is Graunt’s legacy? From the bills of mortality, Graunt knew the number of births. Since he had a rough idea of the fertility rate, he could infer how many women were of childbearing age. That datum allowed him to guess the total number of families and, using his own observations of the mean size of a London family, thereby estimate the city’s population. He came up with 384,000— previously it was believed to be 2 million. Graunt’s legacy was to demonstrate that inferences about a population as a whole could be made by carefully examining a limited sample of data. But though Graunt and others made valiant efforts to learn from the data through the application of simple logic, most of the data’s secrets awaited the development of the tools created by Gauss, Laplace, and others in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 3. How did Poincare show the baker was shortchanging customers? French mathematician Jules-Henri Poincarà © employed Quà ©telet’s method to nab a baker who was shortchanging his customers. At first, Poincarà ©, who made a habit of picking up a loaf of bread each day, noticed after weighing his loaves that they averaged about 950 grams instead of the 1,000 grams advertised. He complained to the authorities and afterward received bigger loaves. Still he had a hunch that something about his bread wasn’t kosher. And so with the patience only a famous—or at least tenured—scholar can afford, he carefully weighed his bread every day for the next year. Though his bread now averaged closer to 1,000 grams, if the baker had been honestly handing him random loaves, the number of loaves heavier and lighter than the mean should have  diminished following the bellshaped pattern of the error law. Instead, Poincarà © found that there were too few light loaves and a surplus of heavy ones. He concluded that the baker had not ceased baking underweight loaves but instead was seeking to placate him by always giving him the largest loaf he had on hand. 4. Are all data in society such as financial realm normal? (Yes) Are film revenue data normal? (No) For one thing, not all that happens in society, especially in the financial realm, is governed by the normal distribution. For example, if film revenue were normally distributed, most films would earn near some average amount, and two-thirds of all film revenue would fall within a standard deviation of that number. But in the film business, 20 percent of the movies bring in 80 percent of the revenue. Such hit-driven businesses, though thoroughly unpredictable, follow a far different distribution, one for which the concepts of mean and standard deviation have no meaning because there is no â€Å"typical† performance, and megahit outliers, which in an ordinary business might occur only once every few centuries, happen every few years. 5. Who dubbed the phenomenon â€Å"regression toward the mean†? Explain its meaning. Galton dubbed the phenomenon—that in linked measurements, if one measured quantity is far from its mean, the other will be closer to its mean—regression toward the mean. 6. Who coined the term â€Å"the coefficient of correlation†? Explain its meaning. Galton coined the term â€Å"the coefficient of correlation â€Å".The coefficient of correlation is a number between −1 and 1; if it is near  ±1, it indicates that two variables are linearly related; a coefficient of 0 means there is no relation. 7. Discuss the applications of the chi-square test?(Pg 165 166 167) Pearson invented a method, called the chi-square test, by which you can determine whether a set of data actually conforms to the distribution you believe it conforms to. 8. What is statistical physics? James Clerk Maxwell and Ludwig Boltzmann, two of the founders of statistical physics. Statistical physics was aimed at explaining a phenomenon called Brownian motion. Statistical physics is the branch of physics that uses methods of probability theory and statistics, and particularly the mathematical tools for dealing with large populations and approximations, in solving physical problems. 9. What is a drunkard’s walk or random walk? The random motion of molecules in a fluid can be viewed, as a metaphor for our own paths through life, and so it is worthwhile to take a little time to give Einstein’s work a closer look. According to the atomic picture, the fundamental motion of water molecules is chaotic. The molecules fly first this way, then that, moving in a straight line only until deflected by an encounter with one of their sisters. As mentioned in the Prologue, this type of path—in which at various points the direction changes randomly—is often called a drunkard’s walk, for reasons obvious to anyone who has ever enjoyed a few too many martinis (more sober mathematicians and scientists sometimes call it a random walk). Chapter 9 Illusions of Patterns and Patterns of Illusion 1. What caused the table to move, spirit? not a direct consequence of reality but rather an act of imagination. 2. What is significance testing? Significance testing, was developed in the 1920s by R. A. Fisher, one of the greatest statistician for scientific research. It is a formal procedure for calculating the probability of our having observed what we observed if the hypothesis we are testing is true. If the probability is low, we reject the hypothesis. If it is high, we accept it. 3. Why did Apple founder Steve Jobs made the ipod’s shuffling feature â€Å"less random to make it feel more random†? Spencer-Brown’s point was that there is a difference between a process being random and the product of that process appearing to be random. Apple ran into that issue with the random shuffling method it initially employed in its iPod music players: true randomness sometimes produces repetition, but when users heard the same song or songs by the same artist played back-to-back, they believed the shuffling wasn’t random. And so the company made the feature â€Å"less random to make it feel more random,† said Apple founder Steve Jobs. 4. Suppose there are 1000 mutual fund managers picking stock for 15 consecutive years by each tossing a coin once a year. If a head is obtained, he/she beats the market (a fund manager either beats the market average or not). What is the probability that someone among the 1000 who would toss a head in each of the 15 years? From Nobel Prize-winning economist Merton Miller: â€Å"If there are 10,000 people looking at the stocks and trying to pick winners, one in 10,000 is going score, by chance alone, and that’s all that’s going on. It’s a game, it’s a chance operation, and people think they are doing something purposeful but they’re really not.† Ans: The chances that, after fifteen years, a particular coin tosser would have tossed all heads are then 1 in 32,768. But the chances that someone among the 1,000 who had started tossing coins in 1991 would have tossed all heads are much higher, about 3 percent. 5. What is confirmation bias? When we are in the grasp of an illusion—or, for that matter, whenever we have a new idea—instead of searching for ways to prove our ideas wrong, we usually attempt to prove them correct. Psychologists call this the confirmation bias, and it presents a major impediment to our ability to break free from the misinterpretation of randomness. Chapter 10 The Drunkard’s Walk 1. What is the butterfly effect? The butterfly effect, based on the implication that atmospheric changes so small they could have been caused by a butterfly flapping its wings can have a large effect on subsequent global weather patterns. 2. Can past performance of mutual fund managers predict future performance? No.